Want to see the latest film starring Oscar winners Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson, as well as Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley, Guy Pearce, Dakota Fanning, Kate Beckinsale, and Jeanne Tripplehorn? Or how about the newest thriller starring Diane Lane, Rosario Dawson, and Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke, directed by Oscar-nominated director writer John Madden?
Well, just put them on your Netflix queue.
Winged Creatures is one of the latest direct-to-DVD casualties, and Killshot got only a limited US release, fates that have befallen many a motion picture these days. After viewing, one may decide that some of these direct-to-DVD and limited release movies may have deserved a theater bypass, but it does make one wonder just exactly where the wheels came off the bus. After all, Slumdog Millionaire almost made its debut in the exact same way as Winged Creatures before Warner rescued it and placed it in a handful of theaters, and that film went on to great success.
Creatures is not Whitaker's first trip directly to video store shelves after grabbing Oscar gold. Other A-list celebs such as Michelle Pfeiffer (Personal Effects, I Could Never Be Your Woman), Morgan Freeman (Thick as Thieves, The Contract), John Cusack (The Contract, War, Inc.), Uma Thurman (The Life Before Her Eyes, The Accidental Husband) will all star in films that most likely will make their premier in your living room.
While it's typically not uncommon for a studio to release sequels with lesser talent directly to DVD to ride the coattails of a studio hit – Universal has gotten direct-to-video mileage out of its American Pie pictures, releasing three straight-to-the-shelf sequels – when films crammed with top-billing stars can't cut a path to the box office, does that say more about the film's quality, or the politics of motion picture industry?
These pieces are not to be confused with little indie projects that many stars take to stretch their resume and accept at a fraction of their usual paycheck. Rather, these films seem to grasp for mass-market appeal, and to be produced with the full intention of playing across the country.
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